Good Morning America (August 11)

U.S. News & World Report (August 23)

Teenagers who receive merit awards are happy to receive the money, but they often don’t know what it took to earn them. That’s why I was happy to stumble across the blueprint for the merit awards that the University of Rochester dispensed to its latest crop of freshmen. Jonathan Burdick, the undergraduate dean of admissions and financial aid, decided to take a look after the 2011-12 class was formed to see what factors had mattered in merit award decisions. Even better, Burdick assigned a dollar value to these factors. (Also reported in: Yahoo! News)

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (August 13)

For the first time in more than 40 years, the University of Rochester is preparing to build a new residence hall – the latest in a housing boom spurred by UR on both sides of the Genesee River. “We are expanding,” said Ronald Paprocki, UR senior vice president for administration and finance. “We are looking ahead to 2012 and 2013, assessing our needs for housing, and how we are going to provide that. ... We can see a clear path to 2013.”